Mining colonies: Cité-Oost, Beringen-Mijn

Beringen-Mijn is a residential area within the borough of Beverlo in Beringen. Beringen-Mijn came into existence as a result of the foundation of the coalmine of Beringen. The name literally means: Beringen by the mine. In 1906 the concession for exploiting the Beeringen-Coersel coalfield was granted. A year later the Société anonyme Charbonnages de Beeringen (Beringen Colliery PLLC) was set up and work started on sinking two pits. The first workmen were housed in wooden barracks that stood to the north of the pits along the Stationsstraat.

Two railway lines pass the mine site. The first was started in 1878, the second -named the coal track- wasn't constructed until 1925. Before that time the railway ended at Beringen-Mijn station located at the end of the Stationsstraat (literally Station Street). Two narrow gauge tracks branched of this railway; the first track (1907) led to the two pits and the second (1925) ran of the first branch to the harbour on the Albert Canal.

In 1908 six Mulhouse Quadrangles were built on the Dwarsstraat  (literally: transverse street) and Klimopstraat (Ivy Street) situated parallel to the Stationsstraat. The six Mulhouse Quadrangles were already old-fashioned at the time they were built. Subsequent housing would therefore take a different form. Instead of another row of Mulhouse Quadrangles five short terraces with four dwelling and two semidetached houses were built in 1910 along the north side of the Stationsstraat.

WWI interfered with the mine being taken into production. So the next houses weren't built until 1919. These houses in a traditionalist or vernacular style were built to house middle management. They are located on either side of the Laan op Vurten, an old thoroughfare linking Beverlo and Koersel via the hamlet of Vurten.

Between 1920 and 1924 a small garden village was built north of the small gauge railway. It consists of a semicircular street witch streets snaking off it giving an emblematic sunrise pattern. In the small garden village known as Cité-Oost or Tuinwijk Beverlo mainly semidetached houses were built. During these years builders developed the first half of the Stationsstraat towards the Koolmijnlaan (this was after all the new main road linking Beverlo and Beringen). In the centre a school with kindergarten (bewaarschool) was completed in 1926. By that time the Cité-Oost had been extended northwards. Near the old hamlet of Kleine Heide (literally: Little Heath) on straight streets short terraces of 4 dwellings and some semidetached houses had been built in 1924. Between 1924 and 1930 more private housing was developed between the garden village and the Koolmijnlaan. Also a new narrow gauge railway was constructed between 1924 and '25 linking the mine to the newly dug harbour on the newly completed Albert Canal.

 

  

The rather striking and emblematic layout of the Cité was inspired by the garden city movement. Unwinesk treatment of the houses can be seen on the corners and at the end of streets. Two closes have been incorporated, as playing fields not as an idyllic motif of cottages around a village green. The backbone of the layout is formed by the old route called Laan op Vurten (LoV literally Avenue to Vurten). Another important line is formed by the first new road, the Stationsstraat (Ss), that linked the new main road to the railway station at Beringen-Mijn (B). At the heart was a large school (S) with a milk dispensary (M). Near the station the so-called Hotels (H) were first built. On the edge lay the old hamlet of Kleine Heide (KH). On the pivot point with the Cité-West  a large church (C) was built.

The directors of the mine not only wanted to provide good housing for their employees with families, but also set about attracting single young men into the collieries workforce. To this end they erected three so-called Hotels (lodgings) on the south side of the Stationsstraat between 1923 an '24. Each "hotel" comprised of twenty rooms, two canteens and two washrooms. In the later years a smaller hotel was built on the Hotelstraat and in the Cité-West (also known as Tuinwijk Koersel). In 1929 new houses in a similar style to the other houses were built on the edges of the garden village, mostly on the side of the railway.

Development of the mining colony started close to the colliery and slowly moved towards the old hamlet of Kleine Heide.

In 1937 land was acquired by the mining firm to build a large church. This so-called Mine Cathedral (Mijnkathedraal) is a stern building with a massive tower and a cloister on both ends. The impressive building was consecrated in 1943. It is now mostly disused. The reason can be guessed when we look at the Mosque in the Klimopstraat, the largest in this part of Belgium.

The layout of this mining colony is still intact. Glimpses of the pit towers can still be got from within the Cité-Oost. The Cité-Oost has been designated Industrial and Architectural Heritage as Tuinwijk Beverlo (ID: 22201). Sadly this does not mean that the ensemble is protected from ill-considered augmentation and modern "improvement". This is a result of the privatization of the dwellings and can be seen all over Belgium. What is left could still be saved, but urgent action is needed! Together with the western mining colony Beringen-Mijn is a prime example of how the garden city ideas were implemented by the industrialists and translated by architects into a coherent residential unit.

 

 

The only monument in the Cité-Oost is this Melkhuisje (milk cottage) where fresh milk was provided for the miners and additional food aid was distributed to poor families (mostly caused by the death of the breadwinner down the pit). The building is said to date from 1927.

Mining colonies: Beringen-Mijn

Located on the western edge of the Campine coal basin lies the mining town of Beringen-Mijn. Due to complicated municipal boundaries the housing for the miners of the nearby mining seat of Beringen was located were Koersel and Beverlo meet. The mine itself was located in both Koersel and Beringen, but named after the town of Beringen and not the small village of Koersel. Nowadays both Koersel and Beverlo have been annexed by Beringen into a much larger municipality. Within this expanded municipality several neigbourhoods can be found that were built for housing miners, middle management, senior management or directors. Housing in these mining colonies was segregated along class-lines.

  

The mining colonies in Beringen are mainly situated in Beringen-Mijn north and west of the mine (M). The oldest workers housing is found in Tuinwijk Beverlo (1). Tuinwijk Koersel (2) was subsequently developed. Between the two the Mijnkathedraal (Miners Cathedral - C) was built with a large graveyard (Begraafplaats -B) nearby. East of the pits two slag heaps (Terril -T) were raised. Next to the largest slag heap the Tuinwijk Baltische Kamp (3) was built. The last colony (Steenveld -4) was built between Beringen and Koersel at some distance of the mine.

The need for so-called mining colonies lay in the enormous expansion of the population because of the mining industry. The Belgian province of Limburg had been a self-sufficient sparsely populated agricultural region until the foundation of the coalmines. Between 1806 and 1898 several attempts were made to drill for coal; they failed. It wasn't until André Dumont started drilling in As that a layer of coal was reached at a depth of 541 meters in the night of the second of august 1901. The discovery of the Campine coal basin caused a run on the area. In Belgium mining was seen as a matter for private enterprise. Concessions could only be obtained from the Belgian government by submitting drilling reports. By 1903 no less than 63 trial drillings were executed. At the end of 1905 42 concessions, with considerable overlap, had been applied for. This was solved by the applicants merging several concession claims and entering into partnership. Thus 10 mining concessions were granted between 1906 and 1911 with three reserve concessions appointed to the state.

The ten mining concessions lead to the foundation of seven coal pits or mining seats, each comprising of two mineshafts. The seven Campine mines were: Beringen Mine in Beringen, Beverlo, Koersel and Paal,  Charbonnage Limbourg-Meuse in Eisden, Houthalen Mine in Houthalen, Charbonnage André Dumont in Waterschei, Winterslag Mine in Winterslag, Zolder Mine in Zolder and Charbonnage Les Liègeois en Campine in Zwartberg and As. The French names indicate the heavy involvement of Walloon entrepreneurs and upper-class (and thus French speaking) investors. Sinking shafts started quickly after the concessions were granted. The first mine to start production in 1917 was the Charbonnage de Winterslag on the Genck-Sutendael concession in Winterslag a hamlet near Genk in the centre of the Campine coal basin. The Great War halted production elsewhere. The second mine to start production in 1922 was the coalmine at Beringen.

The new mines were founded in a sparsely populated area. Once the location of the pits was decided as much land as possible was bought around it. Most pits are located on former common wasteland like heathland away from existing settlements. Not that any of the settlements in the area of central Limburg were large at all. Genk was the largest village with a little over 2.500 inhabitants. The town of Beringen was home to about 1.500 people. This however would change with the start of mining. The new mining sites became the focus of growth and expansion. The influx of workmen quickly resulted in a housing shortage. The Belgian government encouraged private homeownership. As homeowners the workmen would further the interest of the moneyed classes, so they hoped. The result should be no strikes, less improper behavior, no revolts and no need for workers unions. The small stock of existing housing and the then common practice of house building by private investors were no match for the influx of new inhabitants however. Existing houses were quickly subdivided into rentable rooms and when possible expanded with ramshackle lean-to's. The demand far outstretched the supply.

An evening view of the buildings of Beringen-Mijn, now a museum.

The solution was sought in planned large scale housing, a task taken up by the mining corporations. Thus the mining colony (as seen in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands) is a form of factory housing, often with a socio-cultural agenda behind it. Some workers cottages had been provided when work on sinking the mineshafts had started, and the slow progress in starting up production had the advantageous effect of ample time to plan the future workers housing and do research. The concentration of workers in the various Cités Ouvrières in the Sillion Industriel in Wallonia had led to an activist movement of socialist unions and secularization of the working classes. The powerful catholic church and middle classes in Limburg looked at this in dread. Faced with this "impending danger" they were committed not to make the same mistakes as in Wallonia where poor construction, the use of substandard materials and the way workers housing was laid out led to poor living conditions, decaying buildings and social problems. So model regulation for public hygiene and safety was drafted in 1906. In it the width of the streets, size of plots, size of accommodation and even the minimum size of rooms was determined. Fearful of secluded mining colonies (called mijn-cité in this part of Belgium) where the employer would direct daily life and inhabitants had little contact outside of their community, the government settled on the model of garden villages in accordance with foreign studies and propaganda. In 1919 the National Society for Cheap Houses and Living spaces (Nationale Maatschappij voor Goedkope Woningen en Woonvertrekken) was founded to stimulate local and regional house building for the lower classes. Local and regional building societies as well as companies with a housing association could apply for government grants for building new workers housing. These so-called Tuinwijken (garden quarters) became status symbols for the mining companies who rivaled to provide the best housing in the most pleasing green setting, well designed and with many amenities such as schools, a hospital, sporting grounds, a church, a casino and so-on.

Beringen-Mijn is a prime example of this. This garden village located between Beringen and Beverlo comprises of two mijn-cités, Tuinwijk Beverlo or Cité Oost and Tuinwijk Koersel or Tuinwijk West developed between 1919 and 1947. Of a later date are Tuinwijk Baltische Kamp (1948) on the far edge of the hamlet of Stal near a large slag heap and Tuinwijk Steenveld  (1958-63) located between Beringen and Koersel. These Tuinwijken were developed along existing roads not too far from the mine. Each has a layout indicative of its vintage.

The mining colonies nestle between older arable land and pasture along several brooks on what used to be heathland. Baltische Kamp and Steenveld are of a later date and located on former arable land. Foundation of the mine had a huge influence on the landscape. A long straight street called Koolmijnlaan (Coalmine Avenue - indicated with K) connected a road junction in the north with the town of Beringen in the south. Towards this wide street several other preexisting roads (indicated in yellow) were extended. In other places new roads were drawn, aligned with existing roads or on specific features such as road crossings. A new railway was also constructed (r1). Of this railway a subsidiary (r2) was constructed connecting it to the mine. From the mine a second goods railway (r3) was constructed to link this site to the harbor on the newly cut shipping channel (Albertkanaal - A).

Blossoming

Nature is no less than exploding into life. The combination of warm weather and rain did the trick I guess. Lots of wild cherries flowering on the edges of forests. But wild apples are much less common. And yet walking along some scruffy bushes along a railroad I saw over a dozen. Such a nice surprise. The fruit that grows on wild apple trees are as much of a surprise if you expect the taste of cultivated apples, as they tend to not be very big and not so tasty...

The palace that grew a town: Residenzschloß Ludwigsburg

The palace was developed from the original hunting lodge by adding on wings and pavilions. These extensions follow the underlying grid. Every extension of the palace building meant an extension of the palace gardens in order to keep a balanced whole. The residential palace grew into a vast complex. The original hunting lodge was enlarged into a Corps de Logis with two four-room apartments. This central building was extended sideway by two pavilions (a Hunting Pavilion and a Playing Pavilion) connected by galleries and with two short side wings protruding forward from them: the Ordensbau and Riesenbau.

In 1715 another extension program started. This involved raising two new wings extending forward from the pavilion wings: the so-called Cavalierbauten (literally: Horsemen's Buildings). Off these wings two chapels, a theatre and banqueting hall (Festinbau) were built, resulting in an extended three winged structure around an honor court (Ehrenplatz).

The residential palace of Ludwigsburg was developed by extending and enlarging a hunting lodge into a vast complex around an honor court with the emblematic Adlerbrunnen (Eagle fountain) in the centre.

As the enlarged building was being completed it had already become too small for housing a full ducal court. So a new Corps de Logis was constructed opposite the honor court. This vast extension doubled the palace and was completed in 1733. It consists of a three winged structure that was attached to the older palace forming a large carré. To finish the complex of two large pavilions where constructed on the corners of the new main wing (to improve the proportions of the garden facade).

The honor court is a large open space at the center of the palace complex. Here the view across from the new Corps de Logis towards the old Corps de Logis that encapsulated the old hunting lodge. Flanking the parade ground are the two Cavelierbauten and behind them the Ordensbau (left) and Riesenbau (right). In the centre of the honor court stands the Eagle fountain.

The emblematic Adlerbrunnen (Eagle fountain) in the centre of the honor court of the palace. A copy was placed on the axis of the Neues Schloß (new castle) in Stuttgart and can still be seen in situ. On the right an image of the garden facade of the new Corps de Logis as seen from the lower parterre in the south garden.